The Kickstarter Files – Surviving The Asylum In ‘Abandoned’

Many a great project disappear due to team mis-management, lack of time or an overtly ambitious project. The lack of funding however is one that can, more often than not, stop a project dead before it has a chance to succeed in the harsh games market. In this new interview series, IGM will be speaking to a variety of games developers who are using the funding platform Kickstarter to finance their games for release. This week we have the pleasure of interviewing Amario Andre and Jared Knolls, creators of Abandoned.

IGM: Hello Amario, thanks for taking part in this interview. Abandoned I have to say is one of the most slickest games I’ve ever spotted on Kickstarter! In my eyes, it perfectly compliments AAA titles like Max Payne and Condemned, both in terms of style and mood. How did the concept for Abandoned come around, and what were your influences?

Amario: Thanks for having me! Yeah we definitely went for a dark theme/concept to the game. After the release of Sketch 2, a short video I worked on, I wanted to go into game development. It’s a very interesting field and very challenging. I’ve been able to code some 2D Games before but that’s not what I had in mind for the next project.

One day I ended up watching a documentary on prisons. It totally sparked up ideas in my head and I knew I had to make a game out of the ideas that came pouring in. Since I was kind of new to the department, I went to Jared, our level designer for some help on the project; he immediately jumped in, he’s one of the coolest guys I ever met.

Jared: As soon as Amario contacted me about development of Abandoned, I was on board. The storyline he suggested was fantastic and unique. Though the story has been modified now, I could tell that with the right style, audio track, and more, we could produce something of great quality.

As for my influences, I was inspired at first by videos exploring an Asylum, and also a few other video games. After a while of development, we both decided to scrap all the game design we had so far, and start anew; the reason being our skills had improved vastly since the starting point. I’m attempting for something that may impress and surprise any customer of the game.

IGM: Your studio, Black Lion Media, is new to the videogames in terms of releasing a full game, but has caused a stir in the development community too, coming first place in the Semantic Seed competition. Did it ever cross your mind that the projects you put such time and effort into would gain such success?

A: I think Black Lion Media had to go through a lot, before it ever came to this point. Semantic Seed was a tough competition! The first time me and a few friends entered, we had a great idea to implement a 2D game of a Psychopath throwing objects off of a rooftop into the city down below. Everything on the game worked out perfectly, the coding was good, and the graphics looked great. When we actually presented it to the judges, the games code wasn’t implemented onto the Judges laptop so it looked distorted while we were presenting it. It caused us to place nearly last in the competition.

Afterwards, we entered again and achieved Best Creative Design, and it took a third time to get to the point where we actually decided to begin the prototype for Abandoned and it actually won. I think as an Indie studio we progressively learn new better ways to achieve our goal.

J: Though I wasn’t present at the Semantic Seed Competition for any of Black Lion Media’s entries, since I am in a completely different time zone, I always tried my best to support Amario with ideas and tips, and I am very happy that him winning has generated quite a lot of interest, especially for an indie FPS.

IGM: Not only is Abandoned Black Lion Media’s first major indie videogame, but the development team is perhaps one of the youngest so far to gain major attention, with Amario being 16 years old and fellow member Jared only 14! That’s admirable dedication on show in videogames development; what has given you the motivation to pursue Abandoned right to completion?

A: Both Jared and I love the process of creating a game. I started doing graphic design when I was 13 and I probably didn’t start seeing true progress till around the age of 15, people are really surprised when they hear about our ages.

Though Abandoned did start off pretty rough, there was a time we stopped working on the game for 2-3 months then worked on it non-stop from then on. I think what’s given me motivation is probably the concept alone: Abandoned has a great story and I can see it expanding in many different ways. Making something from nothing is the most satisfying thing ever.

J: I am always impressed more after every single piece of artwork or texture work done. Though we are both young, I believe it is a lot easier working with someone close to my age. There was quite a lengthy break sometime during development, but after our “fresh start” the game became a lot more exciting to develop. It’s just simply amazing to take a five minute break to test the game, and see how the previous day’s work looks.

IGM: For those who don’t know, Kickstarter is a funding website where you can attract donations from people around the world to help fund your project. How were you led to Kickstarter, and why did you decide to choose it to try and gain funding?

A: I first heard about Kickstarter during the first Semantic Seed competition, it was mentioned by one of the other team members in the competition. It’s actually a great way to tell people about the game and its development.

J: I had only vaguely heard of Kickstarter when Amario said he would be announcing the game on the site. Having Abandoned there is fantastic; it also acts like our little update feed on what’s being added. Kick Starter is a great way to get our project more known.

IGM: Kickstarter allow developers to reward donatees depending on how much money is given. For Abandoned, most of the rewards come in-game rather than outside, offering special perks such as golden guns and health upgrades. There’s also a digital comic book being offered for fans who donate $200 (currently on limited offer at $20). How did the comic book come to fruition, and do you think these special in-game perks will have an overt impact on a player’s gaming experiences?

A: We definitely wanted to create more unique in-game perks. As a gamer that’s what I would want – so we try to think in those terms as much as we can. The ‘Golden Guns’ perk has a load of ammo, and it only takes about one shot to take an inmate down. It’s gold too which is awesome! The Abandoned comic book was drawn by Matthew Hogben and the story written by myself. It talks about the events prior to the games startup and it’s a really great addition to the games universe.

J: The perks we have added, I believe definitely can impact the players experience. Golden guns are a lot more powerful than the original, and you can just run through a level without worrying as much as being attacked by an inmate. Of course, there will be an alternate version for those who purchase golden guns, if they want to go more in depth into the game.

IGM: Abandoned has a target of $6000 to reach, with the campaign ending on March 2nd. How confident are you that gamers will be attracted to invest in the game?

A: I’m hopeful that they’ll have enough interest to invest. The game will have its own achievement system, conversations with characters, and multiple path choices, all I think are very unique for an Indie game. I think the reason why people are attracted to Indie games in the first place is the fact that big companies aren’t really willing to shell out new ideas.

J: I pretty much agree. Each update on our Kickstarter, there’s at least one screenshot or a video, with a lot of new information. We hope that these regular updates push the people thinking about investing, to actually doing it. Our main goal is for everyone to have a great experience with the game, without giving too much away.

IGM: Many game developers use sites like Kickstarter to fund their campaigns, but some don’t always meet their targets. If the Abandoned campaign fails this time round, what will your next step be?

A: Most of the funding in Abandoned is to speed the games development time, if we don’t meet the goal, the game won’t really be cancelled. Perhaps the game will be extended and a lot more steps will be taken. I’m pretty confident though it will reach its goal.

J: We have both worked far too hard to let it die. The deadline would most likely have to be extended though, maybe by one or two months at the most.

IGM: Thanks Amario for taking time out to speak to IGM. Here we have one very special question. What question would you have liked to have been asked in this interview, and what would be the answer?

A: Probably a question about the soundtrack and the voice actors, the songs are currently being developed by a couple of talented composers, one of which even works at Cartoon Network! Christopher Escalante who is a very talented guy plays a role in the game as a voice actor, but he’ll also be composing some songs for the game.

J: I’d have to say something about how long is spent on development each day. I spend maybe three hours on the actual game design, and the rest of the day thinking about what to design next! Since we are both teens, I find it proves that we are dedicated to our customers, and giving them the best experience that we can!

The Abandoned Kickstarter Campaign ends on March 2nd and can be accessed at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1069586425/abandoned-first-person-shooter-game